Lululemon shoplifting: Couple accused of stealing nearly $1 million

CNN
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A Connecticut couple is accused of running a massive heist at Lululemon stores in several states, stealing nearly $1 million from the company. Jadion Anthony Richards and Akwele Nickeisha Lawes-Richards are both charged with organized retail theft under a law in Minnesota only signed by Gov. Tim Walz last year.

The case comes as retailers say the tide is gradually turning against what had been described as an epidemic of shoplifting.

Richards, Lawes-Richards and a third unidentified person worked together at Lululemon stores in Roseville and Woodbury, Minnesota, to walk away with thousands of dollars in merchandise, according to the criminal complaint.

Police say more than $50,000 worth of Lululemon merchandise was found in suitcases left in the suspects’ hotel room in Bloomington.

“The total loss to Lululemon with Richards, Lawes-Richards and their group (the company) identified so far is closer to $1,000,000,” court documents state.

Investigators say Richards would make a small purchase, get a receipt, then return to the sales floor and meet Lawes-Richards and the other accomplice, who entered separately. Richards and Lawes-Richards would then remove a sensor from an item on the sales floor and place it on an item Richards had just purchased.

They would then allegedly stuff thousands of dollars worth of Lululemon merchandise into Lawes-Richards’ clothes and then they all left. When the store’s theft alarm was about to beep, the complaint says, Richards pretended to think he had set off the alarm: While staff inspected his purchase and removed the sensor the alleged thieves had placed on it, the two accomplices walked out of the store with stolen goods. Lululemon employees did not stop them, believing that Richards’ purchased items had set off the sensors.

Richards was released last week on $100,000 bond. Lawes-Richards is free on $30,000 bond. Both were ordered to appear in court on December 16.

Both suspects face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a $35,000 fine or both if convicted, according to the charging documents.

Richards and Lawes-Richards were both assigned public defenders. Requests for comment from CNN to their lawyers were not immediately returned Monday. The criminal complaint says both denied committing any theft when first confronted by police. They have not entered pleas.

Police were assisted by “an organized retail crime investigator for Lululemon,” court documents say, indicating the company had been following the pair for months across stores in Minnesota, Colorado and Utah. The company told investigators they would make money after returning to Connecticut and New York, allegedly using a series of complicated exchanges at Lululemon stores to get money for stolen goods.

“We are deeply committed to creating a safe and secure environment for our people and guests,” Lululemon vice president Tristen Shields said in a statement. “This result continues to underscore our ongoing collaboration with law enforcement and our investments in advanced technology, team training and investigative capabilities to combat retail crime and hold offenders accountable.”

High-profile retail theft cases in recent years have prompted both lawmakers to crack down harsher penalties and retailers to increase their efforts to investigate thefts on their own. In May, CNN reported that a Home Depot theft was discovered through a months-long investigation by the company’s internal security force that culminated in a SWAT raid on a home that turned up $150,000 in stolen goods.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office says this is the first case they are prosecuting under Minnesota’s new organized retail theft law, according to a statement to CNN affiliate KARE.

“We will do everything in our power to hold these defendants accountable and continue to work with our law enforcement partners and retailers to put an end to retail theft in our community,” the county attorney’s office said.